Following their win at the BC Senior Curling Championship, Kimberley’s Tom Buchy and his team headed to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. last month to represent the province at the Canadian Senior Curling Championships.
The team consisted of skip Buchy, third Dave Troffolo, second Kevin Maffioli and lead Darren will. Buchy said the event went well, and though things didn’t quite pan out the way he would have liked, they came away with sixth place.
READ MORE: Kimberley’s Buchy wins provincial seniors curling championship
Their first game was against Ontario, who’d won the Worlds back in 2019 with that same team, and came second in 2018 — a strong opponent to contend against to start off their tournament.
“Had a great game with them, lost in the extra end, things just didn’t go our way in the extra end, so that would have been a nice one to win,” Buchy said.
Next up they took on PEI, a close match that unfortunately ended up with loss and then they lost to Alberta, who would go on to win the Championship.
So they were 0-3 but then came back and won their next four matches, putting them at 4-3. Sadly they lost their next game, and they would have needed to win the next two to make the playoffs.
“Basically we finished 3-3 after the round robin portion and that put us into the championship pool which gives you an opportunity to get into the playoffs,” Buchy explained. “If you don’t get into the championship pool you don’t get into the playoffs, there’s no chance for the playoffs you just go into a seeding pool so that was good that we bounced back with three wins to make the championship pool.”
They fell just short of making the playoffs, but Buchy said he was happy with their sixth place finish overall.
“You always want to do better, but it was was a good week. we played well, we just need to make a few more shots, but that’s part of curling,” he said.
“When you get to a national event, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing, every team is tough. If you’re playing well that day you have a good chance to win and if you’re not playing well then obviously you lose and that’s just what happens at that level.”
READ MORE: Kimberley’s Tom Buchy wins Curl BC Coach of the Year Award
He added they all felt fortunate just to be able to travel and do what they love, amidst all the complications of the COVID pandemic. The committee running the event did an outstanding job, Buchy said, and though they had to cancel the banquet at the end of the event and the social that should have happened the night they arrived, it was still a great experience.
“So other than that the event was outstanding and they did what they had to do to make it work so it was nice that we were able to play,” Buchy said.
Next up, they’ll have provincials in the third week of March in Chilliwack. Just prior to that, the mixed team with Dave Troffolo, Buchy’s daughter Kayla and Jaelyn Cotter will play in the mixed provincials, which is to be held in Kimberley.
Team Buchy would like to thank the following sponsors for their support:
Stephen Rota Management Inc., Assante Wealth Management, ABC Country Restaurant, Melody Ford, Chalet Chev., Reimann Painting, Signal Collision, Kootenay Insurance Services, East Kootenay Realty, Coors Light, M & M Food Market, Outlaw Adventures, Connect Hearing, Tyee, The Kimberley, Sparwood and Grand Forks Curling Clubs and all their members.
paul.rodgers@kimberleybulletin
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter